South Africa Calls for Peaceful Solution on the Gaza Conflict at the UN General Assembly

Last updated on September 27th, 2024 at 08:46 pm

President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa has called on the United Nations General Assembly for an “immediate and peaceful” resolution of the ongoing conflict in Gaza. The South African leader addressed world leaders at the United Nations General Assembly and emphasized the concrete steps needed by the international community to take immediate measures to alleviate the suffering of the people of Palestine, “who, just like the people of South Africa under apartheid, are denied their freedom.”.

“The violence the Palestinian people are being subjected to is a grim continuation of more than half a century of apartheid that has been perpetrated against Palestinians by Israel. We, South Africans, know what apartheid looks like. We lived through apartheid. We suffered and died under apartheid. We will not remain silent and watch as apartheid is perpetrated against others,” said Ramaphosa.

Israeli military incursions into Palestinian territories since last October have left at least 41,000 people dead, including women and children, Palestinian authorities claimed. Condemnations of the conflict have come from all over the world, with some countries like Turkey urging the United Nations to impose sanctions on Israel.

In parallel, the conflict has gained momentum along the Lebanon-Israel border. Lebanese health officials said the Israeli airstrikes, which targeted Hezbollah guerrillas in southern Lebanon, killed 564 people over two days, while Palestinian officials in Gaza said recent Israeli strikes there took at least two dozen more lives. The Israeli military said it would press on with its drive to push Hezbollah well back from the border, carrying out hundreds of airstrikes on Monday that killed hundreds and injured thousands more in southern and eastern Lebanon.

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The unabated violence sparked a mass exodus from southern Lebanon into Beirut in the largest displacement since the 2006 Israel-Hezbollah war. Conditions in Lebanon were already volatile after a recent attack against communication devices that Lebanon said Israel was responsible for, although Israel denied the reports.

The conflict continued to escalate with over 100 projectiles launched at Israel by Hezbollah on Tuesday in response.